Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. 848 languages are listed for the country, of which 12 have no known living speakers.[8] Most of the population of over 7 million people live in customary communities, which are as diverse as the languages.[9] It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 per cent of its people live in urban centres.[10] The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior.[11]

At the local level, the majority of the population still live in strong customary societies and - while social life is overlaid with traditional religious cosmologies and modern practices, including conventional primary education - customary subsistence-based agriculture remains fundamental.[9] These societies and clans are explicitly acknowledged within the nation's constitutional framework. The Papua New Guinea Constitution expresses the wish for "traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society"[14] and for active steps to be taken in their continuing importance to local and national community life.

Humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea around 42,000 – 45,000 years BP.[15]

Kerepunu villagers, British New Guinea, 1885.

Lime Container, late 19th or early 20th century. Lime container decorated with wood carving of crocodile and bird. Punctuations are emphasised with a white paint. The central portion, which is hollow to hold the lime, is of bamboo. Joints are covered with basketry work.

Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, making it one of the few areas in the world where people independently domesticated plants.[16] A major migration of Austronesian speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques. More recently, in the 18th century, the sweet potato was brought to New Guinea, having been introduced to the Moluccas by Portuguese traders, who obtained it from South America.[17] The far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture; sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and gave rise to a significant increase in population in the highlands.

Although headhunting and cannibalism have been practically eradicated, in the past they were practised in many parts of the country as part of rituals related to warfare and taking in enemy spirits or powers.[18][19] For example, in 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, a missionary, Harry Dauncey, found 10,000 skulls in the island's Long Houses.[20] According to the writer Marianna Torgovnick, "The most fully documented instances of cannibalism as a social institution come from New Guinea, where head-hunting and ritual cannibalism survived, in certain isolated areas, into the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups."[21]

Little was known in Europe about the island until the 19th century, although Portuguese and Spanish explorers, such as Dom Jorge de Meneses and Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, had encountered it as early as the 16th century. Traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird of paradise plumes.[22] The country's dual name results from its complex administrative history before independence. The word papua is derived from an old local term of uncertain origin.[23] "New Guinea" (Nueva Guinea) was the name coined by the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez. In 1545 he noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa.

In the nineteenth century, Germany ruled the northern half of the country as a colony for some decades, beginning in 1884, as German New Guinea. The southern half was colonised in the same year by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea. In 1904 with the passage of the Papua Act, 1905, it transferred this territory to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia, which took on its administration. Additionally from 1905, British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua.

During World War I, German New Guinea was occupied by Australia, which after the war was given a League of Nations Mandate to administer it. Papua, by contrast, was deemed to be an External Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, though as a matter of law it remained a British possession. This was significant for the country's post-independence legal system. The difference in legal status meant that up until 1949, Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia.

However, certain statutes[25] continued to have application only in one of the two territories. This territorial difference of law was complicated further by the adjustment of the former boundary among contiguous provinces with respect to road access and language groups. Some of the statutes apply only on one side of a boundary that no longer exists.[citation needed]

The natives of Papua appealed to the United Nations for oversight and independence. The nation established independence from Australia on 16 September 1975, and maintain close ties. (Australia continues as the largest aid donor to Papua New Guinea). Papua New Guinea was admitted to membership in the United Nations on 10 October 1975.[26]

A secessionist revolt in 1975–76 on Bougainville Island resulted in an eleventh-hour modification of the draft Constitution of Papua New Guinea to allow for Bougainville and the other eighteen districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces. A renewed uprising started in 1988 and claimed 20,000 lives[citation needed]until it was resolved in 1997. Following the revolt, the autonomous Bougainville elected Joseph Kabui as president in 2005 and he served until 2008. He was succeeded by his deputy John Tabinaman, who continued to be re-elected as leader until the election of December 2008, which James Tanis won.

Anti-Chinese rioting involving tens of thousands of people broke out in May 2009. The initial spark was a fight between Chinese and Papua New Guinean workers at a nickel factory under construction by a Chinese company. Native resentment against Chinese ownership of numerous small businesses and their commercial success led to the rioting. The Chinese have traditionally been merchants in Papua New Guinea.[27][28]

Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth realm; as such Queen Elizabeth II acts as its Sovereign and Head of State. It was expected by the constitutional convention, which prepared the draft constitution, and by Australia, the outgoing metropolitan power, that Papua New Guinea would choose not to retain its link with the Commonwealth monarchy. The founders, however, considered that imperial honours had a cachet that the newly independent state would not be able to confer with a purely indigenous honours system, so the monarchy was retained.[29] The Queen is represented by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, currently Sir Michael Ogio. Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are unusual among Commonwealth realms in that Governors-General are selected by the legislature rather than by the executive branch.

Actual executive power lies with the Prime Minister, who heads the cabinet of 31 MPs from the ruling Coalition, which make up the government. The current Prime Minister is Peter O'Neill. The unicameralNational Parliament has 111 seats, of which 22 are occupied by the governors of the 21 provinces (2 new ones were approved by Parliament in 2012) and the National Capital District (NCD). Candidates for members of parliament are voted upon when the prime minister asks the Governor-General to call a national election, a maximum of five years after the previous national election.

In the early years of independence, the instability of the party system led to frequent votes of no confidence in Parliament with resulting changes of the government of the day, but with referral to the electorate, through national elections only occurring every five years. In recent years, successive governments have passed legislation preventing such votes sooner than 18 months after a national election and within 12-month of the next election, and in December 2012 the first 2 (of 3) readings were passed to prevent votes of no confidence occurring within the first 30 months. This restriction on votes of no confidence has arguably resulted in greater stability, although perhaps at a cost of reducing the accountability of the executive branch of government.

Elections in PNG attract large numbers of candidates. After independence in 1975, members were elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a version of the Alternative Vote. The 2007 general election was the first to be conducted using LPV.

In foreign policy, Papua New Guinea is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) of countries and was accorded Observer status within ASEAN in 1976, followed later by Special Observer status in 1981. It is also a member of APEC and an ACP country, associated with the European Union.

This section is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2012)

Since August 2011, there was a political crisis between the parliament-elect Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill (voted into office by a large majority of MPs) and Sir Michael Somare, who was deemed by the Supreme Court (in a December Opinion, 3:2) to retain office. The stand-off between Parliament and the Supreme Court continued until the July 2012 National Elections, with legislation passed effectively removing the Chief Justice and subjecting the Supreme Court members to greater control by the Legislature, as well as a series of other laws passed, for example limiting the age for a Prime Minister. The confrontation reached a peak, with the Deputy Prime Minister entering the Supreme Court, during a hearing, escorted by some police, ostensibly to 'arrest' the Chief Justice. There was strong pressure amongst some MPs to defer the National Elections for a further six months-1-year, although their powers to do that were highly questionable. The Parliament-elect 'Prime Minister' and other cooler-headed MPs carried the votes for the writs for the new Election to be issued, slightly late, but for the Election itself to occur on time, thereby avoiding a continuation of the Constitutional Crisis. The crisis was tense at times, but largely restricted to the political and legal fraternity, plus some police factions, but the public and public service (including most police and military) standing back. It was a period when, with increased telecommunication access and use of social media (notably Facebook and mobile phones) the public and students played some part in helping maintain restraint and demanding the leadership to adhere to Constitutional processes and not to defer the Elections and the people's say in who should be their legitimate representatives for the next five years.

Under an Amendment of 2002 the leader of the party winning the largest number of seats in the Election is invited by the Governor-General to form the Government, if he can muster the necessary majority in Parliament. The process of forming such a coalition in PNG, where there is little ideologically binding parties together, involves considerable horsetrading right up until the last moment. Peter O'Neil emerged Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister after the July 2012 Election, and formed a Government with the former Governor of East New Britain Province, Leon Dion as Deputy Prime Minister.

The unicameral Parliament enacts legislation in the same manner as in other jurisdictions that have "cabinet," "responsible government," or "parliamentary democracy": it is introduced by the executive government to the legislature, debated and, if passed, becomes law when it receives royal assent by the Governor-General. Most legislation is actually regulation implemented by the bureaucracy under enabling legislation previously passed by Parliament.

All ordinary statutes enacted by Parliament must be consistent with the Constitution. The courts have jurisdiction to rule on the constitutionality of statutes, both in disputes before them and on a reference where there is no dispute but only an abstract question of law. Unusual among developing countries, the judicial branch of government in Papua New Guinea has remained remarkably independent, and successive executive governments have continued to respect its authority.

The "underlying law" (Papua New Guinea's common law) consists of principles and rules of common law and equity in England[30]common law as it stood on 16 September 1975 (the date of Independence), and thereafter the decisions of PNG's own courts. The courts are directed by the Constitution and, latterly, the Underlying Law Act, to take note of the "custom" of traditional communities, with a view to determining which customs are common to the whole country and may be declared also to be part of the underlying law. In practice, this has proved extremely difficult and has been largely neglected. Statutes are largely adapted from overseas jurisdictions, primarily Australia and England. Advocacy in the courts follows the adversarial pattern of other common law countries.

This national court system used in towns and cities is supported by a village court system in the more remote areas. The law underpinning the village courts is 'customary law' and these courts are discussed further on the Law of Papua New Guinea page.

Papua New Guinea is often labelled as potentially the worst place in the world for gender violence.[31][32] A 2013 study in The Lancet found that 41% of men on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, reported having raped a non-partner while 14.1% reported having committed gang rape.[33] According to UNICEF, nearly half of reported rape victims are under 15 years of age and 13% are under 7 years of age[34] while a report by ChildFund Australia citing former Parliamentarian Dame Carol Kidu claimed 50% of those seeking medical help after rape are under 16, 25% are under 10 and 10% are under 8.[35]

Provinces[36] are the primary administrative divisions of the country. Provincial governments are branches of the national government – Papua New Guinea is not a federation of provinces. The province-level divisions are as follows:

At 462,840 km2 (178,704 sq mi), Papua New Guinea is the world's fifty-fourth largest country. Including all its islands, it lies between latitudes 0° and 12°S, and longitudes 140° and 160°E.

The country's geography is diverse and, in places, extremely rugged. A spine of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region mostly covered with tropical rainforest, and the long Papuan Peninsula, known as the 'Bird's Tail'. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas as well as very large wetland areas surrounding the Sepik and Fly rivers. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transportation infrastructure. Some areas are accessible only on foot or by aeroplane.[citation needed] The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft). Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch, in the interests of preservation.

Consequently, many species of birds and mammals found on New Guinea have close genetic links with corresponding species found in Australia. One notable feature in common for the two landmasses is the existence of several species of marsupialmammals, including some kangaroos and possums, which are not found elsewhere.

Papua New Guinea's highlands.

Many of the other islands within PNG territory, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, the Admiralty Islands, the Trobriand Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago, were never linked to New Guinea by land bridges. As a consequence, they have their own flora and fauna; in particular, they lack many of the land mammals and flightless birds that are common to New Guinea and Australia.

Australia and New Guinea are portions of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which started to break into smaller continents in the Cretaceous era, 66–130 million years ago. Australia finally broke free from Antarctica about 45 million years ago. All the Australasian lands are home to the Antarctic flora, descended from the flora of southern Gondwana, including the coniferouspodocarps and Araucaria pines, and the broadleafed southern beech (Nothofagus). These plant families are still present in Papua New Guinea.

As the Indo-Australian Plate (which includes landmasses of India, Australia, and the Indian Ocean floor in between) drifts north, it collides with the Eurasian Plate. The collision of the two plates pushed up the Himalayas, the Indonesian islands, and New Guinea's Central Range. The Central Range is much younger and higher than the mountains of Australia, so high that it is home to rare equatorial glaciers. New Guinea is part of the humid tropics, and many Indomalayan rainforest plants spread across the narrow straits from Asia, mixing together with the old Australian and Antarctic floras.

At current rates of deforestation, more than half of the country's forests could be lost or seriously degraded by 2021, according to a new satellite study of the region.[39] Nearly one-quarter of Papua New Guinea's rainforests were damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002.[40]

Three new species of mammals were discovered in the forests of Papua New Guinea by an Australian lead expedition. A small wallaby, a large eared mouse and shrew like marsupial were discovered. The expedition was also successful in capturing photographs and video footage of some other rare animals such as the Tenkile tree kangaroo and the Weimang tree kangaroo. [41]

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, including mineral and renewable resources, such as forests, marine (including a large portion of the world's major tuna stocks), and in some parts agriculture. The rugged terrain — including high mountain ranges and valleys, swamps and islands — and high cost of developing infrastructure, combined with other factors (including serious law and order problems in some centres and the system of customary land title) makes it difficult for outside developers. Local developers are handicapped by years of deficient investment in education, health, ICT and access to finance. Agriculture, for subsistence and cash crops, provides a livelihood for 85% of the population and continues to provide some 30% of GDP. Mineral deposits, including gold, oil, and copper, account for 72% of export earnings. Oil palm production has grown steadily over recent years (largely from estates and with extensive outgrower output), with palm oil now the main agricultural export. In households participating, coffee remains the major export crop (produced largely in the Highlands provinces), followed by cocoa and coconut oil/copra from the coastal areas, each largely produced by smallholders and tea, produced on estates and rubber. The Iagifu/Hedinia Field was discovered in 1986 in the Papuan fold and thrust belt.[42]:471

Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta tried to restore integrity to state institutions, stabilise the kina, restore stability to the national budget, privatise public enterprises where appropriate, and ensure ongoing peace on Bougainville following the 1997 agreement which ended Bougainville's secessionist unrest. The Morauta government had considerable success in attracting international support, specifically gaining the backing of the IMF and the World Bank in securing development assistance loans. Significant challenges face Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, including gaining further investor confidence, continuing efforts to privatise government assets, and maintaining the support of members of Parliament.

In March 2006, the United Nations Development Programme Policy called for Papua New Guinea's designation of developing country to be downgraded to least-developed country because of protracted economic and social stagnation.[43] However, an evaluation by the International Monetary Fund in late 2008 found that "a combination of prudent fiscal and monetary policies, and high global prices for mineral commodity exports, have underpinned Papua New Guinea's recent buoyant economic growth and macroeconomic stability. By 2012 PNG had enjoyed a decade of positive economic growth, at over 6% since 2007, even during the Global Financial Crisis years of 2008/9. PNG's Real GDP growth rate as at 2011 was 8.9%.,[44] and 9.2% for 2012, according to the Asian Development Bank.[45] This economic growth has been primarily attributed to strong commodity prices, particularly mineral but also agricultural, with the high demand for mineral products largely sustained even during the crisis by the buoyant Asian markets a booming mining sector, and particularly since 2009[citation needed] by a buoyant outlook and the construction phase for natural gas exploration, production, and exportation in liquefied form (Liquefied Natural Gas or "LNG") by LNG tankers (LNG carrier), all of which will require multi-billion-dollar investments (exploration, production wells, pipelines, storage, liquefaction plants, port terminals, LNG tanker ships).

The first major gas project is the PNG LNG project of a consortium led by ExxonMobil, scheduled to commence production in late 2014, for export largely to China, Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries. This ExxonMobil-led consortium includes a PNG company named Oil Search, based in Port Moresby, which has a 29% share.

A second major project is based on initial rights held by the French oil and gas major Total S.A. and the US company InterOil Corp. (IOC), which have partly combined their assets after Total agreed in December 2013 to purchase 61.3% of IOC's Antelope and Elk gas fields rights, with the plan to develop them starting in 2016, including the construction of a liquefaction plant to allow export of LNG. Total S.A. has separately another joint operating agreement with the PNG company Oil Search.

The Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell has indicated in 2011 that it is considering the possibility of investing in gas exploration and production in Papua New Guinea.

Further gas and mineral projects are proposed (including the large Wafi-Golpu copper-gold mine), with extensive exploration ongoing across the country.[46]

Economic 'development' based on the extractive industries carries difficult consequences for local communities. There has been much contention[clarification needed] around river tailings in the vast Fly River,[citation needed] submarine tailings from the new Ramu-Nickel-cobalt mine, commencing exports in late 2012 (after a delay from landowner-led court challenges),[citation needed] and from proposed submarine mining in the Bismarck Sea (by Nautilus Minerals).[citation needed] One major project conducted through the PNG Department for Community Development suggested that other pathways to sustainable development should be considered.[47]

The PNG government's long-term Vision 2050 and shorter-term policy documents, including the 2013 Budget and the 2014 Responsible Sustainable Development Strategy, emphasise the need for a more diverse economy, based upon sustainable industries and avoiding the effects of Dutch Disease from major resource extraction projects undermining other industries, as has occurred in many countries experiencing oil or other mineral booms, notably in Western Africa, undermining much of their agriculture sector, manufacturing and tourism, and with them broad-based employment prospects. Measures have been taken to mitigate these effects, including through the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund, partly to stabilise revenue and expenditure flows, but much will depend upon the readiness to make real reforms to effective use of revenue, tackling rampant corruption and empowering households and businesses to access markets, services and develop a more buoyant economy, with lower costs, especially for small- to medium-size enterprises.

The Institute of National Affairs, a PNG independent policy think tank, provides a report on the business and investment environment of Papua New Guinea every five years, based upon a survey of large and small, local and overseas companies, highlighting law and order problems and corruption, as the worst impediments, followed by the poor state of transport, power and communications infrastructure.[48]

The PNG legislature has enacted laws in which a type of tenure called "customary land title" is recognised, meaning that the traditional lands of the indigenous peoples have some legal basis to inalienable tenure. This customary land notionally covers most of the usable land in the country (some 97% of total land area);[49]alienated land is either held privately under state lease or is government land. Freehold Title (also known as fee simple) can only be held by Papua New Guinea citizens.[50]

Only some 3% of the land of Papua New Guinea is in private hands; it[clarification needed] is privately held under 99-year state lease, or it is held by the State. There is virtually no freehold title; the few existing freeholds are automatically converted to state lease when they are transferred between vendor and purchaser. Unalienated land is owned under customary title by traditional landowners. The precise nature of the seisin varies from one culture to another. Many writers portray land as in the communal ownership of traditional clans; however, closer studies usually show that the smallest portions of land whose ownership cannot be further divided are held by the individual heads of extended families and their descendants or their descendants alone if they have recently died.[citation needed]

This is a matter of vital importance because a problem of economic development is identifying the membership of customary landowning groups and the owners. Disputes between mining and forestry companies and landowner groups often devolve on the issue of whether the companies entered into contractual relations for the use of land with the true owners. Customary property — usually land — cannot be devised by will. It can only be inherited according to the custom of the deceased's people.[citation needed] The Lands Act was amended in 2010 along with the Land Group Incorporation Act, intended to improve the management of state land, mechanisms for dispute resolution over land, and to enable customary landowners to be better able to access finance and possible partnerships over portions of their land, if they seek to develop it for urban or rural economic activities. The Land Group Incorporation Act requires more specific identification of the customary landowners than hitherto and their more specific authorisation before any land arrangements are determined; (a major issue in recent years has been a land grab, using, or rather misusing, the Lease-Leaseback provision under the Land Act, notably using 'Special Agricultural and Business Leases' (SABLs) to acquire vast tracts of customary land, purportedly for agricultural projects, but in an almost all cases as a back-door mechanism for securing tropical forest resources for logging — circumventing the more exacting requirements of the Forest Act, for securing Timber Permits (which must comply with sustainability requirements and be competitively secured, and with the customary landowners approval). Following a national outcry, these SABLs have been subject to a Commission of Inquiry, established in mid-2011, for which the report is still awaited for initial presentation to the Prime Minister and Parliament.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous nations in the world.[citation needed]There are hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to Papua New Guinea, the majority being from the group known as Papuans, whose ancestors arrived in the New Guinea region tens of thousands of years ago.

The others are Austronesians, their ancestors having arrived in the region less than four thousand years ago. There are also numerous people from other parts of the world now resident, including Chinese,[51] Europeans, Australians, Filipinos, Polynesians, and Micronesians (the last three belonging to the Austronesian family). Around 40,000 expatriates, mostly from Australia and China, were living in Papua New Guinea in 1975.[52]

Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country, with over 820 indigenous languages, representing 12% of the world's total, but most have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most widely spoken indigenous language is Enga, with about 200,000 speakers, followed by Melpa and Huli.[53] Indigenous languages are classified into two large groups, Austronesian languages and non-Austronesian, or Papuan, languages. There are three official languages for Papua New Guinea: English, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Motu.

English is the language of government and the education system, but it is not spoken widely.

The primary lingua franca of the country is Tok Pisin (commonly known in English as New Guinea Pidgin or Melanesian Pidgin), in which much of the debate in Parliament is conducted, many information campaigns and advertisements are presented, and until recently a national newspaper, Wantok, was published. The only area where Tok Pisin is not prevalent is the southern region of Papua, where people often use the third official language, Hiri Motu.

Although it lies in the Papua region, Port Moresby has a highly diverse population which primarily uses Tok Pisin, and to a lesser extent English, with Motu spoken as the indigenous language in outlying villages. With an average of only 7,000 speakers per language, Papua New Guinea has a greater density of languages than any other nation on earth except Vanuatu.[citation needed]

Public expenditure was at 7.3% of all government expenditure in 2006,[54] whereas private expenditure was at 0.6% of the GDP.[citation needed] There were five physicians per 100,000 people in the early 2000s.[55] Malaria is the leading cause of illness and death in New Guinea. In 2003, the most recently reported year, 70,226 cases of laboratory confirmed malaria were reported, along with 537 deaths. A total of 1,729,697 cases were probable.[56]

Papua New Guinea has the highest incidence of HIV and AIDS in the Pacific region and is the fourth country in the Asia Pacific region to fit the criteria for a generalised HIV/AIDS epidemic.[57] Lack of HIV/AIDS awareness is a major problem, especially in rural areas.

In June 2011, the United Nations Population Fund released a report on The State of the World's Midwifery. It contained new data on the midwifery workforce and policies relating to newborn and maternal mortality for 58 countries. The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Papua New Guinea is 250. This is compared with 311.9 in 2008 and 476.3 in 1990. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 69 and the neonatal mortality as a percentage of under 5's mortality is 37. The aim of this report is to highlight ways in which the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved, particularly Goal 4 – Reduce child mortality and Goal 5 – Improve maternal health. In Papua New Guinea the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 1 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 94.[58]

The courts and government practice uphold the constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and belief, and no legislation to curb those rights has been adopted. The 2000 census found that 96% of citizens identified themselves as members of a Christian church; however, many citizens combine their Christian faith with some traditional indigenous religious practices.[59] The census percentages were as follows:

Traditional religions were often animist. Some also tended to have elements of Veneration of the dead, though generalisation is suspect given the extreme heterogeneity of Melanesian societies. Prevalent among traditional tribes is the belief in masalai, or evil spirits, which are blamed for "poisoning" people, causing calamity and death, and the practice of puripuri (sorcery).[61][62]

It is estimated that more than a thousand cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea. Because of this diversity, many styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more.

Most of these cultural groups have their own language. People typically live in villages that rely on subsistence farming. In some areas people hunt and collect wild plants (such as yam roots) to supplement their diets. Those who become skilled at hunting, farming and fishing earn a great deal of respect.

On the Sepik river, there is a tradition of wood carving, often in the form of plants or animals, representing ancestor spirits.

Sea shells are no longer the currency of Papua New Guinea, as they were in some regions — sea shells were abolished as currency in 1933. However, this tradition is still present in local customs; in some cultures, to get a bride, a groom must bring a certain number of golden-edged clam shells[63] as a bride price. In other regions, the bride price is paid in lengths of shell money, pigs, cassowaries or cash. Elsewhere, it is brides who traditionally pay a dowry.

People of the highlands engage in colourful local rituals that are called "sing sings". They paint themselves and dress up with feathers, pearls and animal skins to represent birds, trees or mountain spirits. Sometimes an important event, such as a legendary battle, is enacted at such a musical festival.

Sport is an important part of Papua New Guinean culture and rugby league is by far the most popular sport.[64] In a nation where communities are far apart and many people live at a minimal subsistence level, rugby league has been described as a replacement for tribal warfare as a way of explaining the local enthusiasm for the game (a matter of life and death). Many Papua New Guineans have become instant celebrities by representing their country or playing in an overseas professional league. Even Australian rugby league players who have played in the annual State of Origin series, which is celebrated feverishly every year in PNG, are among the most well known people throughout the nation.

State of Origin is a highlight of the year for most Papua New Guineans, although the support is so passionate that many people have died over the years in violent clashes supporting their team.[65] The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team usually plays against the Australian Prime Minister's XIII (a selection of NRL players) each year, normally in Port Moresby.

The cuisine of Papua New Guinea is very varied, and usually features locally abundant fruit and vegetables along with rice, fish and seafood. Due to the country's colonial history, it's heavily influenced by European, Chinese and Indonesian cooking. Papua New Guineans prefer food that is very well cooked, such as in ovens called mumu or buried with hot coals.[66] The staple dish is sago, a powdery starch made from the sago palm that is highly versatile and is often served alongside cooked seafood, meats and greens.[67]

Transport in Papua New Guinea is heavily limited by the country's mountainous terrain. Port Moresby is not linked by road to any of the other major towns, and many remote villages can only be reached by light aircraft or on foot. As a result, air travel is the single most important form of transport for human and high value freight. In addition to two international airfields, Papua New Guinea has 578 airstrips, most of which are unpaved.[3] Assets are not maintained to good operating standards and poor transport remains a major impediment to the development of ties of national unity.

Air travel is the single most important form of transport in Papua New Guinea, for the transport of humans and high density/value freight. Airplanes made it possible to open up the country during its early colonial period. Even today the two largest cities, Port Moresby and Lae, are only directly connected by planes.

Malinowski, Bronislaw.Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (2002) famous anthropological account of the Trobriand Islanders; based on field work in 1910s online

^O’Connell, J. F., and J. Allen. "Pre-LGM Sahul (Australia-New Guinea) and the archaeology of early modern humans." Rethinking the human revolution: new behavioural and biological perspectives on the origin and dispersal of modern humans (2007): 395-410.

^Swadling: "Such trade links and the nominal claim of the Sultan of Ceram over New Guinea constituted the legal basis for the Netherlands' claim over West New Guinea and ultimately that of Indonesia over what is new West Papua."

^The Constitution of Papua New Guinea sets out the names of the 19 provinces at the time of Independence. Several provinces have changed their names; such changes are not strictly speaking official without a formal constitutional amendment, though "Oro," for example, is universally used in reference to that province.